Crime concerns. Ai??Our construction crew are mostly from Iloilo City. Ai??They live on the site and go home Saturday night after being paid, so they can see their families –orAi??girlfriends,and return for work at 7:00am on Monday. Ai??When I got to the site this morning they were asking for a padlock for the gate. Ai??They said that people are roaming the surrounding fields after midnight. Ai?? My crew are pretty tough guys. Ai??They sleep with their knives at hand, but

We’re building a house in the Philippines. Ai??This will show how we’ve constructed our floors; filling, compacting, reinforcing bars, pouring concrete and tiling. The height of the fill contained within the perimeter walls of the house is adjustable based on local conditions. Ai??Our house is located on level agricultural land on Panay Island. Ai??We want the have our finished floors about one meter above the surrounding terrain because we wanted to avoid any possibility of storm water entering the finished house. Ai??We already…

Building our house in the Philippines.Ai??January 31, 2010. Ai??We’ve just ended the first two weeks of construction. Ai??We’re generally pleased with the progress. Ai??We have thirteen workers on our crew including two foremen. Ai??I’m on-site most of the time so there are three “bosses”. So far we’ve spent about $8,000 including “soft costs” (architecture, permits), equipment, materials and labor. Ai??We’d like to keep our total cost to about P15,000 per square meter or about $50,000 for the 150 square meter house. Ai??Every day one faces decision which affect the cost. Ai??Should we use 6″ block for a stronger house — it only costs a P30,000 pesos more! Ai??Should the concrete floor be a bit thicker to reduce the chance of cracking? Ai??Should we use 1/4″ thick angle bar in building our roof trusses or the thinner…

Goggle Earth can be valuable free tool in evaluating possible real estate purchases. Ai??After we bought our lot in Tigbauan, Iloilo and, we got a new computer, we had to see how the property looked on the fascinating, invaluable and addictive Google Earth program. Ai??Google Earth is a free program which provides stunning aerial vistas of the entire globe. You can zoom in on any location. It’s available at http://earth.google.com/ The program is at its best if you have relatively up-to-date computer hardware. Our Tigbauan land is surrounded on all sides by what seems to be flat rice fields, sort of a tropical Kansas. Ai??Fortunately, we have a nice vista of the mountains of Iloilo and Antique Province. Ai??One feature of Google Earth is that it shows the elevation of any location that your mouse cursor Ai??hovers over. Ai??Flooding is a real problem for Iloilo property owners. So, if you locate the property you are considering, you can “cruise” yourAi??neighborhoodAi??to see if the property you are considering is in a low spot relative to surrounding properties and relative to rivers, fishponds …

Green Park Hotel (Pension House) Pandan, Antique Province – a good stopover point when traveling from Iloilo City to Caticlan and Boracay Green Park Hotel, Pandan, Antique P1500 room, Green Park Hotel, Pandan Antique The Green Park Hotel is located on the National Road in Pandan, Antique. Phone 036-278-96-16. We did not stay here on this trip, but wanted to check it out for future reference.Ai?? The hotel has beautiful views of the surrounding rice fields. It’s a very convenient location for those traveling from Iloilo to Boracay who get a late start or don’t want do do the trip in one day.

Entrance, Mumbukal Mountain Resort, Negros Occidental, Philippines Coming from the USA, we are accustomed to natural areas being in public ownership as parkland. In the Philippines many such places are privately owned and operated. Mambukal Resort is about a 45 minute drive from Bacolod City. It consists of beautifully landscaped grounds in which are set a swimming pool, picnic shelters, ponds, rental cottages, a Japanese bathhouse, a butterfly garden, and a food court. From Mambukal one can hike further up into the mountains to a series of waterfalls. Contact: 034-7100-800. Please note that some guidebooks refer to Mambukal as Mambucal. Mumbukal Resort, Murcia, Negros Occidental – Swimming Pool Beautifully landscaped grounds – …